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About Insulin Insertion Sites

If insulin injections are part of daily life for you, these strategies can help make this treatment easier and more comfortable.

Daily insulin injections are a part of life for many people with type 2 diabetes. Depending on the type of insulin prescribed by your doctor, you may need several injections of insulin a day via syringe or insulin pen to maintain healthy blood sugar levels. But even if your diabetes treatment plan calls for a single insulin injection each day, simple steps can ease the process.

Choosing Insulin Insertion Sites

Selecting the right injection site can improve blood sugar control as well as prevent painful complications. Insulin injections can usually be given wherever there's enough fat under the skin to avoid the needle going into muscle. But where you inject insulin can affect your blood sugar control because insulin enters the blood stream at different rates when injected in different parts of the body.

The abdomen is usually the preferred insulin insertion site both because it’s easy to reach and it’s where insulin is absorbed the fastest. However, avoid injecting too close to the navel, where tissue can be tough and interfere with insulin absorption.

Other preferred insulin insertion sites include the upper arms, upper thighs, and buttocks. When injecting insulin into an arm or leg, only use the outer areas where there are larger fat deposits to avoid hitting muscle tissue. Injecting these outer areas will also help prevent irritation, since the skin doesn’t rub together here. Finally, avoid injecting insulin into moles or scars where tissue is tougher and don’t inject any area that's bruised, swollen, or tender.

Rotating Insulin Injection Sites

“Every injection should be in a different site, but it doesn’t need to be that different,” says Helena W. Rodbard, MD, medical director of Endocrine and Metabolic Consultants, a private practice in Rockville, Md., and past president of the American College of Endocrinology. “Just give an inch or so of space in between, so it’s not always the same spot.”

If you need just one insulin injection a day, rotating between the right or left side of the abdomen, arm, or leg may be the easiest thing to do.

“You don’t want to keep using the same location because it can cause tissue damage,” Dr. Rodbard says. Using the same insulin insertion site can cause fatty deposits called lipohypertrophy to form, which makes the skin look lumpy and interferes with insulin absorption. Up to 50 percent of people who inject insulin develop lipohypertrophy as a result of not rotating insulin insertion sites properly.

Keep track of your injection sites by developing a routine, like using the left side on even days and the right side on odd ones, or writing down details in a journal.

Insulin Injection Tips

Once you've picked your insulin insertion site, prepare it properly. Clean the area with soap and water if it's visibly dirty or use an alcohol wipe to sterilize the area. Skin should be clean and dry before injecting insulin. If you use alcohol, be sure to let it dry on the skin before the injection or it can cause stinging. There’s no need to cover the injection site with a bandage afterwards.

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